Prizes for businesses in Santa Pola: the Santa Pola city council has opened the Santa Pola Emprende awards 2026, with three prizes of €5,000, €3,000 and €2,000. Autónomos (self-employed people), companies, comunidades de bienes and sociedades civiles (joint businesses of several people without a commercial company) that work in the town and started their activity between 1 January 2022 and 31 October 2026 can take part. Applications are online only until 20 November 2026.
What changes for you today
You can apply until 20 November if your business has a tax or registered address, workplace or establishment in Santa Pola and runs its activity there. It must also have started between 1 January 2022 and 31 October 2026; the date is proven with the census status certificate (certificado de situación censal) from the tax agency (Agencia Tributaria). If you have not started yet, you only qualify if the activity start date recorded with the tax agency is 31 October at the latest. This is not money to get started, but a prize for a business that is already running. If your activity is not in Santa Pola, nothing changes for you. How to register, step by step, is in the card How to become an autónomo in Spain as a foreigner.
What happened
The local government board (Junta de Gobierno Local) approved the rules and the call on 17 September 2026. The summary was published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Alicante (Boletín Oficial de la Provincia, BOP) no. 189 of 5 October, and the window runs from 6 October to 20 November, both inclusive. In total, €10,000 is available. You can find the call in the National Grants Database (BDNS) under number 932762.
How it works now
The National Grants Database shows no earlier call for these awards. Registration rules and the autónomo's taxes do not change because of them. The prize is not tax-free: according to the rules, the applicable tax withholdings apply to it. You can read about the autónomo's taxes in the card on taxes for a foreign autónomo.
What changes
- Prizes: €5,000 for first place, €3,000 for second and €2,000 for third. They can be combined with other grants or prizes, unless the rules of those others forbid it.
- They reward what already works: the activity must have started, and the report asks for real 2026 income and expenses and a forecast for 2027. Real data run from 1 January 2026 or from the start of the activity, if later; you do not need a closed financial year. The rules do not ask you to justify afterwards how you spend the prize.
- Points-based competition: five criteria worth up to 10 points each: the entrepreneur's profile, the business project, impact on Santa Pola, differentiation (with digitalisation and sustainability) and economic viability. Winning takes at least 25 points out of 50; if no one reaches it, the prizes can be left unawarded. According to the report form, a longer track record, higher income or making a profit does not by itself give more points.
- Who cannot apply: associations, foundations, sports clubs, non-profits and temporary business joint ventures (UTE). Nor anyone who is not up to date with the tax agency or Social Security. Also excluded: anyone with debts to the city council already in enforced collection (unpaid after the voluntary deadline) and anyone covered by another ban in the General Grants Act (Ley General de Subvenciones).
- Foreigners: the rules set no nationality requirement and, for autónomos, accept the NIE as an identity document. To register as an autónomo you need a permit to work for yourself; temporary protection gives it, as the registration card explains. The requirements must be kept until payment, and the council has 6 months from 5 October 2026 to decide, that is, until early April 2027. With temporary protection, compare these dates with your TIE validity: until 4 March 2027, although the EU extended the protection until 4 March 2028.
What happens next
- The window closes on 20 November 2026. If a document is missing, you get 10 working days to complete it; otherwise the application is treated as withdrawn.
- A panel scores the applications: the mayor, the councillor for entrepreneurship and representatives of Santa Pola's business associations, CEEI Elche and JOVEMPA.
- The decision is published on the council's electronic office and website, and the winners are notified. It must come within 6 months of 5 October 2026; with no decision in that time, applications may be considered rejected.
- The rules ask applicants to attend the award ceremony, unless there is a justified reason. Before paying, the council checks again that there are no debts and asks for a bank account ownership certificate; payment arrives by bank transfer.
What you can do
- Ask the tax agency for an up-to-date census status certificate: it proves your registration, start date and link with Santa Pola.
- Get the certificates showing you are up to date with the tax agency and Social Security, and the no-debt certificate from SUMA Gestión Tributaria, the Alicante provincial council body that manages local taxes.
- Fill in Annex I (application) and Annex II (report): one section per criterion, with tables for the initial investment, real 2026 income and expenses and the 2027 forecast.
- Add your DNI or NIE if you are an autónomo; a company adds its NIF and deed of incorporation; a comunidad de bienes or sociedad civil, its NIF and contract. If a representative applies for you, add the representation authorisation annex.
- Apply at the electronic office of the Santa Pola city council, procedure «Convocatoria Premios Santa Pola Emprende 2026», with electronic identification, for example a digital certificate. Questions: Servicio Santa Pola Emprende, [email protected].
Official source: rules and call, Santa Pola city council website and summary, Official Gazette of the Province of Alicante no. 189.
Informational only; check the official source and a professional for your specific case.